Saturday, June 24, 2006

Minor League Scorebook

News

Johnathan Mayo and Lisa Winston answer a mailbag,
discussing who has the better upside among the current crop of
top Dodger prospects. Excerpt:

Jonathan: Billingsley on the mound, but there are some
people who would tout Scott Elbert, who's a little ways away in
the Florida State League. I would say one of those two, and you
can't go wrong by saying Billingsley. As far as position
players, I would say Kemp or Guzman as far as upside potential,
though Russ Martin's upside is considerable.

Lisa: I would say Kemp. He may not be the "top prospect,"
but his upside, when you consider that he's more raw and younger
and has a little less baseball experience than some of these
guys, then you look at what he's done, where he's at, that shows
his learning curve. Then you tie in the fact that he has the
power, the speed, the potential to hit for average and can play
defense. My only knock on Guzman, who has power and I think will
be a great player, he's not a five-tool player. I think Kemp is
the lone five-tool player in this group.

Also, more kvetching over the Jered Weaver situation, which see, below.

Scores

Aybar: 0-2, 2 BBWillits, R: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 KPride: 1-2, 1 RBI, 2 BBKendrick, H: 0-4, 2 KMathis, J: 2-4Eylward: 0-3Weaver, Jer: (W, 5-1), 9.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 14 K, 1 BB, 2.15 ERAAKA Jered Weaver Kicks Down The Door To The Show: A complete
game two-hit shutout, with only those and a walk standing between him
and a perfect game. His fourteen strikeouts broke
a franchise record, throwing 72 of 105 pitches for strikes. Get
back on that horse, Jered. A Curtis Pride RBI groundout provided all
the offense. Howie Kendrick is now hitting .389, and we should
probably put out a missing persons call to the police, or maybe a
missing bat call, if such things there be.

One more note about the AZL Angels before I head off: the roster
now has Gustavo Espinoza on it, but he's got the number 99. Are they
trying to tell us something? Also, Warner Madrigal at this level,
again? Also among the infielders we find Casey
Kotchman's name. He hasn't appeared on a lineup card yet, but I'll
surely keep my eyes peeled.

With a 10-6 lead going into the bottom of the seventh, Greg Miller
replaced Carrara, and stumbled into a two-out, bases loaded situation,
whereupon he was replaced by Franquelis Osoria. Osoria gave up
Carter's second bases-clearing double, and thus earned the dubious
distinction of being the second 51's pitcher to blow a save in the
same game.

Las Vegas finally scored in the top of the 10th, with James Loney
singling and Delwyn Young doubling him home from first. Justin Reid
posted a scoreless bottom of the 10th to notch the save.

Paul, X: 2-5, 1 2BDewitt: 2-4, 1 BBLocke: 3-5, 1 RBI, 1 KDunlap: 0-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 KSantana: 1-2, 1 RBI, 2 BBHoffmann: 0-4, 2 KBastardo: 5.0 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 6 K, 3 BB, 3.41 ERADiaz: 2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 0.00 ERAPimentel: (H, 1), 1.0 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 H, 1 K, 2 BB, 4.50 ERACastillo, A: (BS, 1)(L, 2-2) (in relief), 0.2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 5.08 ERA
Boy, this reminds me of this
game against the Giants a couple years ago: so long as there's
outs to work with, you still have a chance. With a 5-1 lead
going into the bottom of the ninth, Julio Pimentel walked the first
two batters, and then first baseman Cole Bruce made a throwing error,
allowing Jake Muyco to reach and a run to score. Albenis Castillo
then took over on the mound, and immediately walked the first batter
he faced. Pinch-hitter Nate Spears then tripled home all three
baserunners, and Jemel Spearman grounded out to first to score the
go-ahead run. A terrible implosion by the Dodgers, who should have
had this one in the bag, obscuring fine offensive performances by
Blake Dewitt and Andrew Locke, as well as a good pitching performance
by Alberto Bastardo.

Don't like getting demoted? Then show 'em that AAA is your little plaything.

Rob, a couple of personnel moves you seem to have missed is that Quakers' RHP Amalio Diaz was transferred to AZL Angels. This could not be a performance-based decision, inasmuch as Diaz has done just fine at Rancho. But there were a couple of other moves (RHP Karl Gelinas was activated from suspended list & RHP Aaron Pullin was demoted from Class AA Arkansas) which probably necessitated this. But why send him all the way down to AZL, rather than Cedar Rapids?

I'm wondering whether Arredondo will get a shot at Arkansas this year, to make room for Adenhart at Rancho.